Life on the Farm

[chamookman]

Prayers sent BJ ! Bob

[M2A]

Great looking bow there BJ. Sure hope you get some good news real soon on all thats going down.

Finished up with the saw work in the orchard about 2 weeks ago, while the fellas cutting the fine stuff out finished up last week. Been busy here last week or so. took a pic of some red delicious on Friday.
IMG_4542 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
Today they are about in full bloom
IMG_4544 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_4546 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
Had to work out the details on timing last week to get hives moved in, The bee keeper brought in 12 last night for the orchard and another 10 or so this morning for some berry crops. Seem to be some good active hives.         
Spent most of the morning riding around checking on things. Best bloom I have seen in several years, so far. they are talking low 30's several nights this week, with any luck there will be some cloud cover and keep things just warm enough that no damage occurs. Would not be a normal year if you didnt have one threat of frost during bloom. lol

Here's some pictures of some 4 year old Gala, high density planting. Wires keep the trees from getting pulled over from the fruit load. Top wire is about 7 ft off the ground. Still about 2 years from a full crop on these trees but they have nice size this year and should be able to fill some bins this fall.
IMG_4547 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_4551 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
Took that last picture because you can see all the pollen that bee has on its back legs. If I recall it was a wild mason bee, not a honey bee. Kinda hard to tell in pic. Going to be a busy few weeks coming up then things should slow down a bit, for me anyway.
Mike       
             

[bjrogg]

Thanks for the prayers and the pictures Mike. I’ve been thinking about you and your sweet corn.

Our weather has still been cold although we had a warm spell last weekend. It’s supposed to snow again the next couple of days. Lows in the mid 20’s for the next three nights. We’re supposed to have sunshine till the weekend and then several days of rain again next week.

There are a few fields planted to Sugar beets now, but not very many. It got dry enough we probably had two days we could have planted. It snowed the day after both of them

No blossoms here yet. At lest I don’t think any. I have still been running to doctors and veterinary every day. Really haven’t seen my apple trees lately.

Susie isn’t 100% yet, but she’s probably 92%. She still has been having dizzy spells and very low energy which is unusual for her. Yesterday she seemed to get her balance back. She had eye doctor appointment with specialist in City. I didn’t want her driving so I took her. She had trouble with her eyes from sugar diabetes and the specialist had to fix them up . It’s been a year long process and she got a very good report on her progress.

Zoey still hasn’t eaten anything in 6 days. Took her back to veterinary again yesterday afternoon. They took X-rays and good news no foreign objects in her system. She still has been vomiting and diarrhea. She has been drinking some water.

The vet wanted to keep her over night. Give her some different medicine for her stomach and take
x-rays again this morning. She is a sick doggie right now.

That isn’t helping my wife and my wife being sick isn’t helping Zoey either. That little dog, sick as she was sat and waited for my wife to come home from hospital. She knows when something is up. When Susie got home her little tail was really wagging. Even though she was still really sick. I’m hoping they both have a good day today.

I really don’t know what has been happening on our farm. My phone has been making trouble and doesn’t work when I go to City. This 5g tower stuff makes it almost useless when I leave our area.

I know my nephew was trying to get the new sprayer to work and having trouble. No surprise there. All this stuff is so complex. It takes awhile to get everything calibrated and figured out. He text me last night that he thinks he has it ready now. Now we need some good weather. Which seems to be in short supply. Maybe we can get good enough weather. It’s definitely not early anymore and to late to screw up. If we can get dirt dry enough to plant beets we will be going at the beets. Still way to cold for the corn, but we want to get the beets in the ground.

Thanks so much everyone who has said a prayer. It means so much to us.

Bob I was thinking of you everyday last week when I drove to Port Huron hospital. The boats were out on the big lake fishing from Port Sanilac all the way south. Maybe you were in one of them? Thanks for the prayers

Bjrogg

PS going to work now. Hopefully I can get this back to a farming thread again.

[BrianS]

Bjrogg,
Prayers sent for your wife.
brian

[bjrogg]

Thanks Brian much appreciated.

Well I was hoping we wouldn’t get any more precipitation but we’re getting rain switching to snow.
It’s yuck.

My nephew is moving into my dads house. There was a table there my grandpa built with six chairs he built. My dad sat around this table with his siblings growing up. My now past uncle built another one copying off grandpa’s original. I now have both of them together in my man cave.

It’s kinda cool having these tables and chairs. They have a lot of family history and they look pretty nice here. They both have extensions if I really have a crowd.

Almost looks like they belong here.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Looks like a Blackhawk flying back and forth along the shoreline. Hope their just training. Been a lot of boats out lately and I hope they aren’t looking for someone.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

One more of the tables and chairs

[chamookman]

Haven't been fishing. Saturday, Matt & I took His son Dan to the Sucker Tournament for Kids in Chessaning. Had a Blast watching the Kids. Tired of this Weather ! Those tables are way Cool, like the Man Cave too. I need to get out and Fling some Arrows  ! Bob

[bjrogg]

Bob that sounds like a blast. When I was a kid spear season opener was the day before my birthday. I always spent it at my grandmas and my uncle who was only 2 years older than me and I always went sucker fishing. We would catch a bunch and grandma would can them. Man that was primitive, raw excitement for a little kid.

Heard advertisement on the radio that Ubly Drag strip is opening again this year. They made some improvements and are hosting a couple events.

We got about four or five inches of snow last night. Temp is 27. It’s not looking like we will be able to plant before it starts raining again next week. Getting tired of this weather to. Maybe I should go sucker fishing.

My wife is still at probably 92%. Praying she gets back to 100

Vet wanted to keep Zoey another night. Still wasn’t eating anything. My daughter is going crazy. I’m sure Zoey is really missing us all to. Sure hope that little dog gets better to.

I guess we will see what the day brings

Bjrogg

PS Bob you have a invitation to sit at those tables if you get a chance

[bjrogg]

Getting tired of this stuff.

Winterizing the sprayer again. Nephew thinks he has it ready to go now. It’s going to be a couple weeks at least till we can plant. If it wasn’t for running to doctors and veterinary I’d be really tempted to get out of here and head to the Classic.

Vet called this morning and they want to keep Zoey another day. Getting pretty worried about her.
Daughter is literally going crazy and I would bet Zoey is to.

Bjrogg

[Buckskinner]

You guys ever have motorcycles run under your sprayer on the road?  My neighbor did and said is scared the hell out of him, said the guy was going about 100 mph when it happened.

[bjrogg]

You guys ever have motorcycles run under your sprayer on the road?  My neighbor did and said is scared the hell out of him, said the guy was going about 100 mph when it happened.

This is our first self propelled sprayer. Our others have been tractor and pull type. They can’t fit under those.

I’m hoping they don’t try, but I’ve had people I know say that they have had 4 wheelers drive under them . 

 It’s really not a good idea. Might be a thrill but you never know when they are going to turn and run you over.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Well Susie is at least 96% now. Seems to be getting close to normal.

Zoey is still one sick doggie. She spent two days and nights at the vet and still isn’t eating. We brought her home. She was so happy to see everyone her little tail was really wagging. Maybe now that everyone is home she’ll be less stressed and recover.

My son and I picked stones with the gator in the wheat field.

Took a picture where I picked up a rock.

Wheat is greening up nice, I can see the clover we seeded is up. That’s why we like to put it on early. It comes up early enough to catch a little sun before the wheat shades it out.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Can’t seem to post pictures with my new phone

[M2A]

You got on heck of a man cave BJ! Those tables fit right in there.

That high-boy sprayer must get some ground covered in good time, but you got lots of ground to cover. I just have a pull behind with a single 30 foot boom for sweet corn. But this new one is all hydrolic so I dont have to get out of the cab any more to fold it up or make adjustments and thats so nice. Little things like that and AC in the cab make all the difference. Amazing how far ag tech has come over the years.

29.8 degrees F at dawn this morning. With apples in full bloom damage starts at 28 so dodged a bullet there but still spent some time checking for damage. Looks like the low tonight is 32 so if that holds true things will be ok and then its supposed to warm up.

Had time at the end of the day to run a bunch of arrows through a BL bow Im finishing up for my younger boy. A few more tomorrow and it should be time to pretty it up. Good thing, Im running out of time to get this one done.
Mike